Canna's on the move

ARMANDII - you have done the right think. When a frost was forcast 10 days ago, I cut my Cannas and a lot else back, and moved the pots under cover. The frost appeared on the fields around here, but not in my garden. And the weather has been so mild since that I regret having cut so much stuff down.

 

Well, with my Cannas being the strange situation of still producing new leaves and flowers at the top but the lower leaves going yellow/brown I decided to lift them yesterday and cut them back to a height suitable to fit them in shed.

I was encouraged by the size of some of the rhizomes; they were HUGE :D :thumb:

 

I'm in the same position as you Bilbo . I have cleared all the salvias from around the Cannas , ready to lift them this weekend . They are still flowering and the leaves look great , but they gotta go as I need to get my tulips in.
Have you tried splitting any of the rhizomes yet ? I'd like to know when and how this is done. Aesculus posted this link below on Bulbs - corms etc etc , on another post , it is really useful - cheers Aesculus :thumb:
Bulbs

 

Hi Harry, I lifted the plants as carefully as possible and I am certain that I broke none myself but from 3 plants that went in I got 9 sizeable chunks that appear to have split off themselves in the ground at some point??? as I couldn't find any fresh breaks on the rhizomes, don't know if this is normal or not??

I've now got a whole lot of canna rhizomes to overwinter (hopefully successfully this time :D), the plan is to let the remaining stems and leaves die off (and dry) in the shed and then cut them back again, they'll then take up far less space :D

 

I dug out my cannas today , cracked my stainless steel spade doing it :gaagh:! I had just 3 C. Tropicana from seed in a bed and one in a container , now the rhizomes are quite big. I have got them into the potting shed for a week or two to dry out. Then I will cut stems down to a more manageable height , cover them in slightly damp compost and store them in the garage. Here's hoping they will start again when I pot them up next March
I'll be starting 2 new varieties from seed C. Altensteinii , kindly donated by Bilbo and C. Marabout . The main problem is going to be space you can only use so many windowsills and also keep Mrs H happy


Cannas Dug Out -

Rhizomes after a good wash.


Stored for Winter ( fingers crossed )

 

That was the kiss of death John !- A very hard frost here on Sunday night probably minus 2 . I would think my Cannas would be OK in the shed wrapped in paper Its back to mildish here for the rest off the week , so I'll give them one week to dry off , then cover in just damp compost and then into the garage.

 

Hopefully this is the last Canna storage question of 2011 - although I doubt it ! The spaghetti type roots coming off the rhizomes in the photo above , is it best to trim these right back before I put them into the final storage ?

 

Hi Harry, not sure on the answer to that question?, any cannas I have succesfully kept through the winter in the past have been left in situ in pots and allowed to 'almost' dry out, so not sure what happens to the roots, whether they survive or not, one might assume they dry off and die back anyway looking at the rhizomes you buy??.


Update on my cannas....well I checked on them today (in the shed) and they are drying nicely, more leaves are now yellowing and there are no signs of excessive moisture that might cause rot.


Also recieved some seed yesterday for two new Cannas for me from Chiltern Seeds (took advantage of their autumn sale :D), they are C.speciosa and C.paniculata, so they've been popped in the fridge with the others until next year :thumb:

 

hi Guys , has any of you have ever growed a Canna tuerckheimii ? Is it really the giant of all? Will it really reach 16 feet in UK ?
any suggestion where i can get some seed?
thank you.

 

sal - I grew a couple of Canna tuerckheimii this year from seed - shown below.



I fed them a lot and they certainly grew very thick culms and dense foliage, but they never reached more than about 6 feet. In the picture they look taller, but they were in a deep pot, which was elevated. They never flowered for me, but it was a pretty cold and awful summer in my opinion.

I think the general feeling is that it is another name for Canna altensteinii. Bilbo, higher up this thread, has grown those and they were taller than mine.